Donald Trump
on Saturday took his message directly to African-American voters, telling a
congregation at a black church in Detroit that they are “God’s greatest gift to
our nation.”
Trump made his
appeal at the Great Faith International Ministries church, after weeks of
trying to appeal to black voters and amid criticism that the Republican
presidential nominee has yet to bring his message into black communities across
the country.
Trump on
Saturday vowed if elected to bring jobs back to those communities, including
many with impoverished black neighborhoods, and to provide a better education
for the children who live in them.
“But today,
I’m here to list,” said Trump, reading in subdued tones from what he said was a
hand-written message. “I mean it from the heart.”
The event,
which included Trump being interviewed by the church’s leader, Bishop Wayne
Jackson, for his cable TV show, was surrounding by protesters outside. Some
argued with police and private security officers about being denied access to
the event and chanted, “No hate in the White House.”
Trump told the
congregation in his roughly 20-minute speech that African-American churches --
“in the pews and pulpits” -- were the foundation of the civil rights movement
and of the Christian faith, while also asking members to work with him to
restore America’s once-prosperous urban centers.
“I want to
help you rebuild Detroit, make the city the economic envy of the world,” he
said to applause. “Things are going to get better.”
Over roughly
the past two weeks, Trump has increased his efforts to appeal to black voters,
arguing that the policies of Democratic rival Hillary Clinton and those of
other Democratic lawmakers have failed residents in many U.S. cities,
particularly African-Americans.
“Hillary Clinton-backed policies are
responsible for the problems in the inner cities today, and a vote for her is a
vote for another generation of poverty, high crime, and lost opportunities,” he
said at an Aug. 17 rally in Wisconsin. Democratic lawmakers “have ruined the
schools. They’ve driven out the jobs. They’ve tolerated a level of crime no
American should consider acceptable. … I am asking for your vote so I can be
your champion in the White House.”
After making
such arguments, he has frequently said on stage: “What the hell do you have to
lose with Trump?”
However,
critics argued that Trump made the Wisconsin speech, for example, 40 miles away
from Milwaukee and that other, similar speeches have been held in such places
as Austin, Texas, and Des Moines, Iowa, not areas Trump has highlighted like
Chicago’s South Side or west Baltimore.
On Saturday,
Trump also seem to draw attention to the racial divide that separates Americans
and the distrust African-Americans have for law-enforcement agencies,
underscored by the sometimes violent protests that followed the recent deaths
of black males while interacting in police officers.
“Our nation is
too divided,” he said, after arguing about a lack of “trust between citizens.”
Trump was
joined at the event by Dr. Ben Carson, the retired neurosurgeon and former 2016
GOP presidential candidate who is black and came from the Detroit area.
After the
church event, Carson took Trump to his childhood home.
Trump trails
Clinton in most national polls and in the race on win over minority voters.
Trump is also
scheduled this weekend to go to Philadelphia to meet with about a dozen
business and religious leaders in the city’s black community.
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